The two stars is for the job they did on the day itself. Everything was pulled off fairly well but that was probably because we had gone through the timeline with the hotel about 12 times before the event. The timeline was drawn up between ourselves and our own wedding coordinator. Still, the Mandarin slipped up on a few thingsd - notably our wedding cake which visually was far short of the photograph we can provided and which they promised was not a problem to duplicate (it was not a complicated cake to begin with). And taste wise it was one of the driest and blandest cakes we have tasted. Also, a detail revolving the serving of tea after lunch which we had gone back and forth on for months also slipped up, due it seems to a lack of communication between the event managers and the actual servers. To give the Mandarin credit, the actual food served (other than cake) was very good. Before and after the wedding however we had the worst experience with sales and the event manager. They were unresponsive and unprofessional -- it was like pulling teeth to get anything done. Granted ours was a small wedding, but that does not mean that we should be treated second-rate. The Mandarin in Washington DC is supposedly a five star hotel but it does not deliver. It cannot be compared to its properties internationally. We would not recommend the Mandarin as a wedding venue, simply because of the extremely poor service we received, which added a lot to our wedding stress.